MEDICINE
Roche forecasts EPS growth
Roche Holding AG, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, has forecast high single-digit percentage growth in earnings per share (EPS) this year as new products start to contribute to sales. Net income last year rose to 9.5 billion Swiss francs (US$10.3 billion) from SF8.9 billion a year earlier, the Switzerland-based company said yesterday in a statement on its Web site. EPS excluding some items were SF12.30, falling short of the SF12.46 average estimate of 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.Two new skin cancer drugs — Zelboraf for metastatic melanoma and Erivedge for advanced basal cell carcinoma — will add to sales, Roche said.
ELECTRONICS
LG’s yearly loss narrows
LG Electronics Inc, South Korea’s second-largest electronics maker, reported a narrower full-year loss helped by sales of high-end televisions and mobile phones. The net loss narrowed to 277.9 billion won (US$247 million) in the 12 months that ended on Dec. 31 from a loss of 635.9 billion won a year earlier, LG said in a regulatory filing yesterday. The company’s consolidated full-year net loss, to be released later yesterday, would be about 322.2 billion won, according to the average of 37 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Rising sales of higher-margin TVs and smartphones helped improve profitability, the company said. LG, the world’s third-largest handset maker and the second-largest maker of TVs, is introducing new models equipped with 3D functions and Android-powered cell phones to revive earnings after losing market share to Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc in smartphones.
MEDIA
Magnate buys Fairfax shares
Australia’s richest person, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, reportedly took her stake in press group Fairfax to 12.8 percent yesterday, prompting government calls for tougher media ownership laws. The iron ore billionaire acquired close to 8 percent of the group after launching a A$200 million (US$212 million) share raid late on Tuesday, bringing her total holding to about 12.8 percent, Dow Jones Newswires said. Rinehart had been seeking a further 9.9 percent stake in the newspaper, radio and digital media firm in which she already held more than 4 percent to become its largest shareholder, the Australian Financial Review said. Laws designed to diversify media ownership prevent Rinehart from taking more than 15 percent of shares in the company which publishes the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne paper The Age as well as the Financial Review.
ELECTRONICS
Infineon profits fall less
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second--largest semiconductor maker, said its operating profit for the fiscal first quarter fell a smaller-than-expected 20 percent and predicted second-quarter sales would be “flat” to slightly down. Operating profit in the fiscal first quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, fell to 141 million euros (US$184 million) from 177 million euros a year ago as sales rose 2.6 percent to 946 million euros, the company said in a statement yesterday. Twelve analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected an average operating profit of 127 million euros and sales of 934 million euros. Infineon said it sees “continued confidence” from automotive customers and “some early signs” of stabilization in the market for chips for security on credit and identity cards though “seasonal weakness” would drive a decline in chips that improve power efficiency and go into wind turbines.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”